


Best Kiss

by colazitron



Category: Star Trek RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-07-14
Updated: 2009-07-14
Packaged: 2017-11-27 08:25:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/659881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/colazitron/pseuds/colazitron
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Feeding the bromance fad seemed like a good idea when Chris' agent suggested it. And it's not like it was a <i>bad</i> idea, it just turned out different than they expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Best Kiss

****

Best Kiss

“Hi, sweetie, how was your vacation?” she trilled into the phone and Chris tried very hard not to laugh at her insistence of giving him ridiculous pet names, even though she was barely a few years older than him.

“Thanks, Lisa, I really enjoyed the four days.”

“Good for you.”

“Indeed that is good for me”, Chris grinned and set down the traveller’s bag on his bed. He sat himself down next to it and allowed himself a little groan before flopping back onto the mattress, staring up at the ceiling.

God, it was quiet in here.

Sometimes he wished he had someone to come home to.

“So, anyway. You know, there’s this MTV thing coming up…” Lisa started.

“Yeah, the Movie Awards, right? Are we given one?” He couldn’t help the excitement that crept into his tone and how he sat back up.

“I don’t know, pumpkin”, Lisa laughed.

“But I received a call that they want you and Zach to present one of the awards. The “Best Kiss” one. Apparently Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds were supposed to it but can’t for some reason or other.”

“Best kiss? Zach and I? Why the hell would they want that?” The question was out of his mouth before his brain had had the time to come up with the adequate answer. But as always, Lisa was more than willing to supply it for him. She had gotten used to this little habit of his of leaping and remembering to look somewhere half-leap.

“Your guess is as good as mine. Well, perhaps mine is a little better. They’re probably pushing the whole bromance thing. You know MTV, they’re always trying to push every fad to the very limit.” Chris could practically hear her roll her eyes. Or maybe that was just his imagination, because he was rolling his at the very moment.

“Probably,” he agreed.

“Well, thing is, it’d be really great publicity. I mean, if you and Zach are uncomfortable with it – not that there’s any more than presenting an award to it – I’m certainly not gonna force you to do this. Just, please, promise me you’ll think about it and talk to Zach about it and call me back about it in the next few days, okay?”

“Sure, Lisa,” he promised and grinned at the way she tended to repeat herself when she really wanted him to do something, but didn’t want him to feel pressured.

“Great. Well then, sweetie, I’ll leave you to yourself and I’ll hear from you.”

“Will do. Get some sleep, Lisa.” She was one of those people who insisted that caffeine could substitute sleep. He didn’t get how anyone who had been through college and tried to live that way could still possibly believe that.

She laughed.

“All right, all right. Don’t be such a mother hen, Chris Pine.”

“Well, if I don’t, who will be?” She could probably hear the cocky raise of an eyebrow, just like he could hear her eyes rolling once again.

“Save the cheek for a girl it works on. Good night.”

“Night.”

Putting the phone down, he decided to call Zach tomorrow. A few minutes later had his traveller’s bag on the floor, him stripped down to boxers and a T-Shirt, all set for bed, almost falling into exactly that. He loved the way his sheets smelled so much like home.

 _Good night_ , he thought to himself and fell asleep almost the same instant.

+++

It turned out he didn’t have to call Zach. When he woke up the next morning, there was a message on his answering machine, informing him in Zach’s even tones that said man expected to meet him for coffee today.

One and a half hours later had Chris sitting in the Starbucks he and Zach frequented, staring across the table at his friend.

“So. Your people called my people yesterday,” Zach said and took an elegant sip of his grande double caramel latte. Chris thought he would probably always be fascinated by Zach’s casual, non-chalant grace. It was like he was born to exude this calm and cool confidence that made him the unofficial king of whichever playground he chose. Zach always made him feel like he really wanted to match his countenance. Not that it was working. At all.

“Did they?” Chris questioned, not the least surprised that Lisa was sneaky enough to have called Zach’s agent before even telling him. Well, he had forbidden her to call him during his four day vacation.

“Yes, they did.” The smug little smile on Zach’s lips told Chris that his friend knew exactly what he was trying to achieve with his fake cool and that Zach wasn’t buying any of what Chris was selling. Heaving an internal sigh, Chris decided to cut the crap and do what he did best (as he always did after a few minutes of fruitless Zach imitation): get straight to the point.

“So, what do you think? You in?” There was no need for clarification and any attempt would surely have ended in a game of verbal jump rope. And while Chris really enjoyed playtime with Zach, he had promised Lisa they’d talk about it and he’d call her back (preferably to give the okay).

“You make it sound like you already are,” Zach observed and lifted his eyebrow. Chris chuckled a little at that. Zach really did over analyze. At least he didn’t read that much into it anymore now that they knew each other rather well. That little habit of his had driven Chris out of his mind in the beginning of their friendship.

“I’m game if you are,” he simply replied. He really didn’t mind either way. He wasn’t a rabid MTV fan, but he didn’t have anything against them either. And Lisa was right. If there was one thing about this that was absolutely certain, it was that any MTV event was great publicity.

“ _Best kiss?_ ” Zach asked his lips curled in a bemused smile and his voice a little incredulous. Chris laughed again. It did seem a little ridiculous.

“You know how bromance gets them going,” he simply shrugged. Zach sighed.

“I suppose I do, yes.” Chris felt that to be a “yeah, I’m in, let’s do this” but he thought it prudent to wait for a verbal confirmation of that suspicion and so raised an enquiring eyebrow at the man across from him.

“Sure, let’s do it,” Zach smiled and was answered with Chris’ grin.

“It’s going to be fun,” Chris assured him.

+++

The days leading up to the awards were filled with more publicity for Star Trek and went by in a blur, like these things tended to do. And before either of them knew it, it was the morning of the award show and they found themselves on the phone joking about coordinating their outfits but ultimately ending up actually coordinating them.

“Dude, we are such girls,” Chris laughed and looked at the clothes that lay on his bed.

“Pfsh. We’re simply aware of the aesthetical advantages of matching outfits,” Zach corrected, earning another chuckle from Chris for his trouble. It wouldn’t be the first time they had accidentally or on purpose worn matching outfits. And since all of this had stemmed from their “epic bromance” anyway, why not feed the fad. They were going to do that anyway by standing on that stage and presenting the “best kiss”.

 

That didn’t stop Karl from mocking them while Zoe giggled behind her hand, though. It also didn’t stop Anton from pointing out that they would probably have been nominated if it had been Kirk and Spock kissing on that transporter pad and not Uhura and Spock. Which resulted in Chris and Zach chasing him around the seats and him yelling defensive cries of “I thought you were comfortable in your friendship” until JJ stepped in and kindly asked them to behave. There was something about that man that made it absolutely unnecessary for him to ever raise his voice, one listened to him anyway.

So they filed into a row like the good little kids they could be if they chose to, Zach and Chris sitting at the end of the row to be able to exit easily before their appearance on stage, and waited.

+++

It was when they were standing behind the props waiting for their cue that Chris was suddenly overcome with inspiration and turned to his friend with a grin on his face that probably made Zach aware of the direction this was going.

“Are you comfortable in our friendship?” he asked.

“Yes?” Zach asked back, lifting his eyebrow in a clear ‘what the fuck, Christopher?’ gesture.

“ _Really_ comfortable?” Chris pressed.

“Yes, Chris, really comfortable,” Zach obligingly answered and rolled his eyes.

“Good. Follow my lead,” Chris grinned and heard Zach give a little exasperated sigh, before the music started playing that cued them into descending the stairs.

Chris stepped up to the microphone placed on the little console. He noticed that Zach stayed back a bit, not quite standing next to him.

“Well,” he began. “We’ve seen some pretty good stuff already, but this next category is the one _I know_ you’ve all been waiting for, whether you’ll admit it or not.” He scanned the crowd with a fatherly look and earned a little laughter. Laughter was good.

“There’s really not much that conveys emotion as easily and clearly as a kiss and let me tell you, these nominees sure know how to do it. But, while Star Trek is not on the list of those nominees, I must insist that it would have been had it been Kirk and Spock kissing on that transporter pad,” he continued in a slightly joking manner

Uproar and more laughter answered his announcement. Anton would so mock him for quoting later, but the line was too convenient to not use. He chanced a look at where he knew his cast mates sat and saw Zoe and Anton beaming with anticipation, while the rest seemed to be stuck somewhere between exasperation and amusement. JJ wasn’t making frantic movements to get him to stop, so Chris figured he might as well do this.

“What? You don’t believe me?” he challenged the audience and was happy to note they challenged him back by means of cheering and laughing. He took a step back, straightened his back and clasped his hands behind it.

“Mr. Spock,” he called and could see Zach imitating his posture next to him, seamlessly falling into character as the audience went silent.

“Yes, Captain?”

“It seems these people here don’t think we could pull off a kiss that could be nominated for the best,” he continued, still staring into the distance. Zach stepped up next to him, his eyebrow – though not shaved anymore – rising up in perfect Spock.

“Do I deduct correctly that you consider this a challenge to prove them wrong?”

“You do.”

“And am I further correct in assuming that you will want to rise to that challenge?”

“You are,” Chris grinned and turned his head slightly to look at Zach who kept his face blank, as appropriate for Spock.

“I would try arguing with you but I know that you will simply not give in. Thus indulging you in this silly quest is likely to quicken the proceedings of this endeavour,” Zach said, did the Vulcan equivalent of an eye-roll and pulled one of his hands from behind his back and held it up in front of him.

Chris cocked his own eyebrow in question. Zach’s tone was positively smug when he answered.

“Vulcans kiss with their hands, Captain,” he explained and earned a few laughs from the audience.

“Do they now?” Chris smugly asked back and pushed his fingertips against Zach’s.

“So, if I do this, it’s like making out?” It was easy to channel Kirk’s flirting and smug smile while he pushed his palm flat against Zach’s, rubbed his fingertips a little up and down along Zach’s fingers and finally let his fingers slip in between Zach’s and slowly knead the back of his hands. Chris hadn’t known these simple gestures could seem as vulgar as they did, but he was quite sure the slight widening of Zach’s eyes and the barely there intake of breath Spock would have (hopefully) not been able to hold back added to that.

“Indeed,” Zach answered the rhetorical question and fixed his gaze firmly onto their twined hands and started to reciprocate the rather bold hand make-out session they had going. Chris knew he could have left it at the hand kiss and the audience would have had a good laugh, but something prompted him to press this further.

“Uhura taught you to kiss the human way though,” Chris insinuated and was met with Zach’s intense brown eyes. There was a little amusement there but nothing that indicated he should stop.

“She did,” Zach answered. Chris raised his currently unoccupied hand and grabbed Zach’s tie to pull his face closer to his own.

“Then show me what you learned,” Chris challenged, because Kirk would even though he knew that a challenge was not enough to elicit an emotional response from his logical first officer.

Zach’s lips pushed against his in a surprisingly tender way, but he guessed Spock would kiss calculatingly so it fit the roles they were portraying. Trying to stay grounded enough to not let the movement of their hands stop, Chris did what Kirk would do and pushed back with a lot of enthusiasm. Kissing Zach wasn’t nearly as strange as he had expected it to be. That should probably worry him, but actually he felt more relieved at the discovery.

He debated opening his mouth and deepening the kiss, when the audience erupted into cheers and cat calls, prompting Zach to draw back both his lips and hand and straighten back up, his hands once again clasped behind his back.

“Captain, I do believe your point has been proven,” he informed him with a curt nod before stepping up to the microphones, ending their little show. Chris allowed himself a smile and turned to face the audience with Zach. Their cast mates were clapping most hysterically of all. Well, they had tried to tease them into doing this for a rather long time now.

“As fun as that was, let’s see the real nominees,” Zach suggested and turned to the large screen to observe the video clips playing like the professional he was. Chris turned with him and they shared an amused smile in their now dark corner of the stage. This was sure to feed the (b)romance talk.

 

It was later, when all of the show and the good-natured teasing from their cast mates was long since over and Chris was about to get into a cab, that Zach reached for his shoulder to hold him back.

“Let’s do that again someday,” he suggested and thus voiced a thought that had been paddling around Chris’ mind for the last hours. He wasn’t entirely convinces that dating one of his best friends was such a good idea, but he trusted that he and Zach were adult enough to get over it, should it not work out. And a few dates just to see would hardly to them any harm.

“You’ve got my number,” he smiled, gave Zach’s shoulder a squeeze and got into the car. He was pretty sure he would wake up to another message from Zach on his answering machine.

+++

The End


End file.
